One idea a week to help you teach and present with more clarity, confidence, and calm. No fluff. No scripts. Just practical tools that land.
You’re smarter than your audience. That’s the problem.
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I once saw a brilliant doctor explain febrile convulsions to a parent. He started with: “It’s about hypothalamic thermoregulation.” Accurate? Yes. The parent nodded politely. 💡 ONE IDEA WELLThe more you know, the harder it is to explain. This is The Curse of Knowledge—a bias where we forget what it’s like not to know something. We assume shared language. Shared logic. Shared leaps. But when we present from that place, we leave people behind.
And the kicker? We believe we’re being clear. In my writing workshop, I use this example: What does ASD mean? To a paediatrician: Autism Spectrum Disorder. Same letters. Entirely different diagnoses. And PE?
We think we’re speaking plainly. The Curse of Knowledge hides in acronyms, assumptions, and slides that begin halfway through a thought process we never say out loud. It’s not about intelligence. 🧰 LESS MESS, MORE MESSAGEHere’s how to break the curse. 🧠 1. Speak to the least informed person in the roomNot the slowest. Just the one without your shorthand. 🔁 2. Use the “10-year-old” testIf you can’t explain it simply, you probably haven’t shaped it fully. 🧭 3. Set the scene before delivering detailInstead of: “The CT showed a PE.” Try: “The CT showed a PE—saddle embolus, obstructing both main pulmonary arteries, and the child was peri-arrest when we got them to CT.” Same diagnosis. Even among clinicians, terms like “PE” or “sepsis” or “floppy” can flatten urgency. 📏 4. Count your acronymsIf your slides look like a Scrabble rack - ECMO, DKA, SIADH, ADHD - it’s a red flag. Spell it out. Especially the first time. Even if it feels obvious. (Especially when it feels obvious.) 📸 A BEFORE/AFTER SHIFTBefore: “The child was described as irritable.” After: “The child was described as irritable -crying inconsolably, arching their back, refusing feeds, and unsettled even when held.” To most people, “irritable” just means cranky or overtired. Same word. Clarity isn’t about sounding clinical. 🧭 ASK YOURSELF THISIf I were hearing this for the first time, what part would trip me up?
That’s your real starting point. Because clarity doesn’t begin when you’re ready to explain.
Same acronym. Different realities. |
TEACHING ISN’T A SCRIPT. NEITHER IS THIS.
One idea a week to help you teach and present with more clarity, confidence, and calm. No fluff. No scripts. Just practical tools that land.
✈️ Airport Thoughts Right now, I’m at the airport waiting to board a flight to Adelaide. Tomorrow, I’ll be stepping onto the stage at Compassion Revolution to do something I’ve never done before. No slides.No clicker.Just me, the audience, and the words I’ve chosen. 🎤 A Talk, or a Performance? Most of the time, I tell people not to memorise every word. Instead: Know your beats.Know where the story turns.Know the feeling behind each section. But this talk… is different. This one’s more like a...
Ever sit through a talk that starts with a mystery — and ends without solving it? It’s like watching a movie that opens on a gun resting on a desk. You notice it. You wait for it. But the payoff never comes. 💡 ONE IDEA WELL Chekhov’s Gun is a simple rule of storytelling: If you show the audience a gun in Act I, you’d better fire it by Act III. In your talk, the “gun” might be a provocative question, a compelling stat, or a case that promises a twist. And if you don’t circle back? You leave...
A few weeks ago, I was invited to run a workshop on public speaking. Along with the invitation came a slide template - the official university-branded deck. You know the kind: big logos, gradient backgrounds, clip-art flair. This was the opening slide they asked me to use: I get it. It's well-intentioned. There’s an event logo. There's my name. There's even a helpful purple mist. But I didn’t use it. Here’s what I used instead: Why? Because your first slide isn’t just a title card. It’s a...